Iowa man sentenced for detonating homemade explosives

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for making explosive devices and then detonating them on an Ankeny street in 2021.

Chad Allen Williams, age 47, of Johnston, was sentenced Friday for making a destructive device and being a drug user in possession of a firearm, according to federal prosecutors.

Williams, who pleaded guilty Jan. 20, will be on three years of supervised release after his prison term.

Court documents said Williams admitted detonating homemade devices on an Ankeny street on May 12 and June 7 of 2021. A third device was found on the same street on June 9, 2021, but it did not detonate. That device contained a “significant amount” of metallic shrapnel, prosecutors said.

Officers who searched Williams’ home found drugs, weapons and items needed to make the explosive devices, prosecutors said.